BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Helper
Saturday, December 23, 2006

This came to me last year at holiday time. Inspiration works funny. This is all there is. I've worked at it a bit all year, and this is all there is, no more, no less.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 3403    RATING: 9    SERIES: FIREFLY

Helper

"Bartender, I'd like a drink."

The barkeep served up a whiskey to the well-dressed gentleman, obviously someone from off planet.

"And a round for the house." The bartender dished out bottles of mudder's milk.

"I have a question?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I came to this odiferous moon to buy some ceramic mud, thought I'd look around the town a little. Who are those persons in the statues in the square? " "Well, sir, the big one is Jayne Cobb, the Hero of Canton. He stold a box of money from the Magistrate, and dropped it on the town. Wasn't all heroism, but it's the best thing anyone's ever done fer us hereabouts."

"And the little one, with the big mustache,and the strange clothes, looks like he's helping the big one. What it that he's wearing?"

"Tradition is that it's called a Hawaiian shirt. From a tropical island on Earth-That-Was."

******

The trip to Miranda was over, and Mal was cruising back to their old haunts, when he got a wave from Amnon at the skyplex. Tight lipped and silent, he had ordered the boat there, and kept the crew on short rein as he ,Zoe and Jayne went to checkit out. He had ordered up a fine dinner catered for the entire crew, and now that it was finished, and everyone gathered around the table, he tapped on his glass with a knife.

"I'm sure you all wanta know what this is all about, so here it is. Amnon finally received payment for the Lassiter. Our chunk is quite a bag of coin. I'm taking half for my share and the ship-- fuel, parts, air, food, supplies. I've arranged for Shepard Book's share to be sent to the Abbey. Kaylee and Jayne, I know you got folks at home gonna need part of your shares. You can arrange for transfers tomorrow. Amnon will help with that. For the rest of you--" He flipped envelopes at Inara, Simon,and River. He paused, then, " Zoe, you earned your share, and Wash's goes to you as well." He flipped her 2 envelopes.

She paused, then flipped one back to him."My share goes to the ship, sir. I got no place else I wanta go. But I got something I wanta do with Wash's share." and she began to explain... Part way thru, Kaylee began to smile, then said,"I wanta contribute half of mine..."

River pushed her envelope back. "I didn't earn this. It'll let me be part of the fun. "

Inara too. "I don't need cash. I can always make plenty. "

and Simon. "River and I aren't going anywhere, and don't need anything. Count me in."

Jayne looked puzzled, then-- "Allright, Mal. I gotta sent half home, and I want a litle spree, but you can have the rest."

******

The bartender was finishing his story.

"The ship flew over the town just after midnight on December 24th. Real low and real fast. Made a helluva racket. Woke ever'body in town and at the Magistrate's. Then it made a second pass, real slow, and actually hovered over the square. Coupla fellas in the cargo door began pushing stuff out. Food, clothes, booze, toys for the kids. Some folks who remember Jayne's second coming say one of the fellas was Jayne himself. There was captures of Jayne and the little fella in some of the packages."

"And these are some of the toys , here behind the bar?"

"That's correct, sir. Nobody has been able to explain why so many of them are these. " And the bartender gestured at the group of plastic dinosaurs , and the tiny model spaceships...

COMMENTS

Saturday, December 23, 2006 3:42 PM

NBZ


Probably the only xmas story I can stomach!

Saturday, December 23, 2006 4:10 PM

GOMITHROUS


Lol. The crappy town where Wash is a hero.

Saturday, December 23, 2006 4:46 PM

GRAYALBATROSS


*sigh* My very heart is breaking. :) Shiny work, NewOld!

Saturday, December 23, 2006 7:49 PM

GWENFREWI


To tell you what I actually think of this I will describe verbatim what happened after I reached the end of the fic.

Left hand lightly covered my mouth as the words "Oh my god." come silently from it.

Tears well in my eyes as my heart weebles at the memory of Wash.

I just went and rewatched the BDM on the big screen last night so this hit me really hard.

Thanks. That was so beautiful and I gave it a 10.

Saturday, December 23, 2006 9:09 PM

AMDOBELL


When you mentioned the toys at the end I was half expecting rows of wobbly headed geisha dolls! I loved it that Wash finally got a statue too on that crappy moon. Ali D :~)
You can't take the sky from me

Tuesday, December 26, 2006 2:17 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


This was BRILLIANT! Totally loved how you had the entire crew, including Jayne, pony up money for the Mudders:D

Gotta question though...how did the Mudders be able to build a statue of Wash? Was there a picture or capture with the prezzies drop explaining the gift was on behalf of Wash?

BEB

Tuesday, December 26, 2006 9:17 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT


B.E.B.-
I kinda short cut the logic. I did mention that there were captures of the " little guy", , let the rest of it flow without expalining that they figured that the guys in the pictures were responsible.

a mistake- River didn't deserve a share-- I threw her in to build the enthusiasm.

And another detail- Jayne contributed the least, but Wash came off as his helper.

Thursday, January 25, 2007 5:44 AM

JANE0904


Excellent - just found this whilst I was browsing, and I love the idea of Wash having his own little statue, and being a hero. Like we didn't know it already ...


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This came to me last year at holiday time. Inspiration works funny. This is all there is. I've worked at it a bit all year, and this is all there is, no more, no less.